I write about Asian enterprises in California. My Asia experiences include living in Beijing for a year after graduating in English at UC Davis and briefly being an editorial assistant at the Hong Kong bureau for Forbes in 2012. I was previously at a startup news site in L.A. called Truthdig and now I'm based in the Bay Area. Feel free to follow me on Twitter (@rosatrieu), Google+ (Rosa Trieu) or Instagram (@cc_encogneeto).

Three Taiwanese Bubble Tea Chains Race To California

Bubble tea may be commonplace in Asia, but the success of various independent shops and chains in California could one day be defined by service and variety. While chains such as Lollicup Coffee & Tea and Tapioca Express Inc. were founded in southern California and are working on expanding globally, the state has seen a dozen others come and go. Here are three Taiwanese chains that have already established themselves in Asia but are worth watching in the states:

Gongcha

Gongcha was founded in Kaohsiung, Taiwan in 2006 and has more than 300 stores across Asia (Taiwan, Singapore, Kong, Singapore, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, Macau and Thailand), Australia and Canada. It opened its first location in Fremont in August.

ShareTea

ShareTea was founded in 1992 by Cheng Kai-Lung. ShareTea is considerably smaller than its components with just over 180 locations. One location has opened in California.

CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice

CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice was founded by Hung Chao-shui in 1997. The leading Taiwanese tea brand has over 1,000 branches in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and opened its first U.S. location in 2011.

Of the three chains, Gongcha peculiarly provided a test report on its Facebook page that showed its tapioca balls were safe, alluding to a 2011 scandal that broke out in Taiwan when many drinks were found to contain DEHP, a chemical additive used to change the appearance of food and drinks.

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